Despite scare, Eddie Alvarez feels Bellator victory was true to form

Heading into this past Friday’s first round of the Bellator Fighting Championships’ lightweight tournament, Eddie Alvarez (16-2) had two expectations.

Alvarez expected he would probably suffer a flash knock out early on and that he would leave victorious. He was right on both accounts.

“I actually called that,” Alvarez recently told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “I told the ref when he asked is there anything weird he needed to know about. I said, ‘Yes, you’ll hear I get knocked out. But I’ll pop right back up; just give me a second.'”

True to his word, Alvarez’s legs buckled when opponent Greg Loughran caught him with a big left hand to the chin. Alvarez admitted he’s got a little work to do with his stand-up game.

“It’s been happening a lot more than I would like it to,” the Philadelphia Fight Factory product said. “I think I have actually been flashed knocked out in three of my last four fights.

“I try to throw big punches. I try to go for the knockout. But whenever you stand in the pocket, sometimes you give up your chin. It’s something I have to work on; I don’t like the way I was doing it in that fight.”

Alvarez survived the scare, and he battled back to secure a fight-ending guillotine choke at 2:44 of the opening frame. The win earned Alvarez a spot in the tournament semi-finals.

Although 14 of his 16 career wins have come by way of stoppage, Alvarez admits that he will need to make some adjustments to win the tournament, which consists of a grueling schedule of three fights within just 12 weeks.

“I have really good conditioning,” Alvarez said. “I pride myself on my conditioning, so I recover super-fast. I’m good to go 100 percent, but that’s the biggest deal going into this tournament, to stay injury free.”

Alvarez’s return to U.S. soil has also prompted many fans to wonder if he was interested in competing in the sport’s biggest organization, the UFC.

“The UFC, I think they made us an offer,” Alvarez said. “It wasn’t what (my manager) Monte (Cox) expected, or what I expected, so we had to move on.”

Alvarez credited financial freedom as his reason for turning down the offer.

“I want to make a living doing this,” Alvarez said. “I don’t want to go back to doing concrete and training at night. Wherever I go, I have to be able to train full time, or else I’m not going to be near the athlete that I want to be.”

Although not UFC-bound anytime soon, Alvarez is actually currently contracted with three organizations, meaning fight fans will be able to see plenty more of the 24-year-old this year.

“We are still under contract with Strikeforce (in the U.S.), as well,” Alvarez said. “They are cool with letting me fight with Bellator. We are hoping I can come to Strikeforce by the end of the year and fight some big names.

“I (also) have one more fight on my contract with DREAM.”

Alvarez said he hopes the final fight n his current contract with DREAM will be a rematch with the last man to defeat him: top-ranked Shinya Aoki (20-4), who submitted Alvarez with a heel hook in December 2008.

But for now, Alvarez is focused on staying healthy and, if the stars align correctly, a potential mega-fight with American Top Team slugger Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal (17-3) in the finals of Bellator’s lightweight tournament.

“I would love for that to happen,” Alvarez said. “I think it will be a great final.”

For more with Eddie Alvarez, including his thoughts on the differences between fighting in Japan and in the U.S., download Tuesday’s episode of MMAjunkie.com Radio.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon EST (9 a.m. PST) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by Gorgeous George, professional fighter Frank Trigg and producer Goze. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.